Hey there everybody, this is Mark Mo from the
Mark Mo Show Fireside Chats. Interviewing today,
Justin Anderson from Definitive Details. Justin,
how you doing, brother? Feeling pretty good,
man. Feeling pretty good? I love it. I love it.
We've been trying to get this thing together
for some time now and now we have, which is great.
We are here in his... Palatial Estates right
here off of Lincoln Way. And so Justin, why don't
you introduce yourself to the crowd a little
bit. Tell everybody about not so much what you
do. We're going to get to that, but kind of where
you came from and where you're at today, man.
Well, before I get to that, what does palatial
mean? It means a badass pad. Oh, thank you. You
got a great place. That's a story. It's a story?
Well, I got a podcast, so feel free to tell any
story you want, my man. All right. Let's go back
to them questions. Go back to the questions?
We will get back to the questions. All right,
let's do this. All right, so you grew up, you
had this love of cars. Where did that come from?
Man. I actually hated cars. Did you? Yeah. All
right. was really introduced to the automotive
scene and industry and love and passion of all
of it from my my dad uh -huh but when I met him
I was 11 okay you know going through that divorce
thing and yeah there's shit through a bad upbringing
bringing you know this typical divorce thing
Yeah. But you know, dealing with that as everybody
does, you know, my mom met somebody else. Gotcha.
Obviously, I have to hate that man. So I get
it. Yeah. The rebellious me decides, you know,
everything he says is going to be wrong, you
know, for the rest of my life. Yep. Going through
this cycle of, you know, rebellious teenager.
Meeting a man that is a real Amazing human being
for the first time in your life. Yeah it just
kind of osmosis osmosis Lee like sunk in year
after year and I went through my shit as a teenager
and just wanting to Hate everything because of
the typical Reasons sure. Oh, yeah Nothing crazy.
I actually had a pretty ding Awesome upbringing,
but didn't know it at the time. I had to rebel.
Yeah, of course Started entering into the journey
of my life as an adult after going through the
crap I threw put my parents through I I came
out on the other side and Started to realize
what I actually wanted out of life and it was
a lot like what they were trying to coach me
towards and just Decided you know what screw
it. Yeah, I started out actually in body work
and paint Because my dad's friend owned a shop
and it was the only place that we can get my
you know troublesome but employed at yeah Okay,
you know and It was kind of a weird unique situation
where you know, it was like I was paid pretty
low amount of money but I was allowed to just
go in there and Sit and be told a little bit
of instruction and focus Sure play with a car
and I had this giant thing with all these nuts
and bolts and Thing that I thought I was supposed
to hate and I was given the opportunity to straight
just Pour myself into something. Yeah, you know,
it was a actually Valpo out of body. Okay press
right right behind Duffy's. Yeah, sure I'm a
name Glen Rosenbaum He Been in that spot since
the early 80s, you know, just kind of his own
thing I always had a couple employees and he
just knew my family and employed a couple other
people in it and he brought me in and Paid me
this is like $10 an hour. Maybe it's probably
like seven back then. Yeah, and he gave me a
Volkswagen Beetle but some kid From one a top
paid him like three thousand bucks to just do
a complete paint job on it But he looked like
pulled this beetle out of The junkyard, it was
dense everywhere, like every fender was just
wavy and gravy. It was a mess. And, you know,
like, I've learned since, like, this isn't how
you do bodywork, but the guy gave me, like, a
gallon of Bondo. It's my 18 -year -old ass in
front of this car. And he said, so, you know,
you put it on like this and you do a little of
that. Yep. You know. Let it wait you sit and
let it cure out and then you grab this sandpaper
and you shape it And he's like if you go too
far, then you put more bondo on it Build it from
this lumpy mess of crab we didn't bang hammer
on this one. No, I want this thing Like there's
probably had to be like 60 pounds of freaking
bond on this. Oh my god They're probably about
60 pounds of bondo when I was done with it, but
just sculpting this wreck of Whatever to turning
it back into like in my eyes. Yeah, you know
looking back that thing was perfect Like I recreated
a whole entire Volkswagen. It probably was wavy
I have no idea right, but it somebody actually
just let me Go at something. Yeah, you know and
I think I worked on that thing for like six months
Did you really? Wow. So this kid pays $3 ,000,
he pays me $10 an hour like 40 hours a week for
six months to just make this thing. Yeah. All
the way to the point of like I was in there.
I sprayed part of that. Like, you know, like
I followed this whole car through the whole entire
process and it just hit me like all that passion
that my dad had like poured into me and my family.
And this was after some trauma. I put myself
through hell. I got in some big trouble when
I was a teenager. You know, but when I came out
of that, I had this, you know, I was gonna work
hard. At least the work ethic part I transferred
through. Well, in that moment, like painting
that car, and then actually getting to buff the
car, it's one of my most memorable parts, is
buffing the car. Because I learned that was my...
my favorite part yeah after all that time just
really perfecting it to like as glossy as you
get it but the pride in that man's face the kid
he was kidding he probably was barely older than
me at the time like you know like him picking
that thing up and just so happy and i mean he
was this is a body shop so you know you you give
them a car and they're like oh this is going
to be like you know five days at the most yeah
six months later A lot of phone calls in between
then, but you know, just, dude, that kid was
lit up, lit up. How'd that make you feel? It
was the first time I was actually truly proud
of something I had accomplished, honestly. It
really was. I come from an incredibly strong
family that push you. They push you, they push
you, they push you. It's in a kind way, but...
It's, you know, like being so rebellious, like
I always found myself on the other side of not
being, you know, I had too much drama going on
in my life for anybody to want to tell me how
awesome I did at something. Yeah. You know? And
I finally like served my penance and went through
all that and then this happened. It was pretty,
it stuck. Yeah. It really did. And in that moment,
like through that whole thing. And that was what
I would consider my first step into a career.
I was very intrigued with how it ran. Like I
said, I already knew at that point, how the hell
is he only getting $3 ,000 for something I just
worked six months on? How does this work and
what's going on? Business, all that stuff. And
just started compiling. And from there, I traveled
through this crazy career. I don't even remember
your question, but thank you for saying my story.
No, you are killing it. This is the whole point
of what we're doing. So you're at the body shop.
You're learning a lot, the Volkswagen bug, putting
all that time and effort into it. So you're developing,
I assume at this point, this passion for this.
So now when does the idea for kind of having
your own spot, when does that come into play?
So I don't know if I can wave sooner. I am incredibly,
I honestly, I swear. I tried starting multiple
companies even when I was in like the fifth,
sixth, seventh grade. Oh, all right. Yeah, I
stole my lawnmower, my neighbor's lawnmower.
They borrowed, that's fine. Yeah, I used it to
mow their lawn and our lawn. And then I realized
I had access to his lawnmower and I grabbed the
can of gas and I walked door to door and I started
selling. Love that. Lawn mowing for five dollars
a piece. And then I took that money and what
I couldn't afford and I went to Target and actually
this was very shortly after because I got in
trouble for stealing the lawnmower. My mom was
so mad. The neighbor was actually like, this
is hilarious. He could do this. And my mom's
like, she's not allowed to do that. I still remember
that. But I actually took that. That was actually
how I started washing cars. Because I took that
money that somehow didn't get taken away from
me. And I went to Target, which was around the
corner. And I bought a bucket and a sponge and
car wash soap. I went to those same neighbors
and I started washing their cars. I probably
screwed them up, you know what I mean? But the
neighborhood just loved that I would go around
being like, I want to be productive. Yeah, I
love that. But that honestly has always been
in me. That was the big actual thing that's always
been in me is that drive to just do stuff. Sure.
So you grew up in... If I'm correct, you grew
up in North Judson? I grew up in Phoenix. Oh,
and that's the beginning of all of this? Yes.
My family was from Glendale, and my dad, who
is an adopted stepfather kind of thing, he is
from North Judson. Got you. And when my mom got
divorced... she was introduced to this guy and
you know, I had to hate him and all that stuff,
but Somehow in all that talked us into moving
back here. Yeah, we moved back here I moved back
to I moved from from a pretty, you know big suburban
area to North Judson at The start of the very
very beginning of my freshman year, you know,
kind of like a Disney story, you know, like big
adjustment Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you know you showed
up and you're like total different dress attire
and style and choice of music and you know like
to a rural community you get like they're you
know like what are you doing city boy kind of
thing and you know the funny thing I always loved
about that part of my life is it was like two
years later they were all dressing like me I
love that at least like I was two years ago Influencer
before being an influencer? Yeah, it wasn't me
doing the influencing. That's just the proverbial
wave that travels from out west, I think. I actually
still use that method in building my company
and a lot of different things. I watch trends
out west. I think some other actual big members
of this community do the same thing. Yeah, I
think your brick street burritos and stuff like
that. There you go There's great inspirations
of things that I went out and hung out at in
Huntington Beach And when they came to this town,
I was just like, oh my god over the world Yeah,
we can San Diego burrito Yeah, you know, yeah
And that's kind of how I ended up starting my
company, you know in a sense was I've seen some
stuff that was super popular out West, you know,
like that's how I think I sprung my company.
Okay. You know, I started my company out of just
passion for buffing on cars, you know, and I
actually always knew I would eventually own my
own company. Yeah, my 20s when I actually graduated
from high school got married and very, very quickly
moved back out to Phoenix. Okay. I lived out
there for 10 years where I Yeah, that's where
I really got heavy into the automotive industry.
Was in Phoenix. Yeah, so I was into body work,
but I worked at Falpo Auto Body, and then I punched
over to Gore Track, just took a job because it
was better money. You know, I was moving up,
I needed more money, yada yada yada. So I took
a factory job and was making decent money, but
like I was working in this department just making.
gizmos and gyros, you know, like just little
knickknacks for different machining parts or
whatever, but you're like punching holes and
you're doing, you know, your typical measure
this, cut that, move it to the side, measure
this, cut that, move it to the side, but they
had opened this department where they had actually
started manufacturing these roll -up firetruck,
the roll -up doors for firetrucks. Oh, okay,
yeah. And they had a whole paint department and
I literally would be working at this spot doing
all these things, just like... Blindly putting
these pieces together like staring over at this
paint shop. Just just driven and it was actually
a manager kind of cut He caught it over time,
you know, and he was like I you you can't stop
looking at that He's like and you're doing good.
You know what I mean? Like I have no problems
with what you're doing But like I can tell so
I got a transfer over there and that's when I
started painting and so that whole thing turned
into this like I'm moving up the automotive scale,
but I was also chasing money. Sure, that's fine.
And I actually quit that because I've always
loved just interacting with people. And I wouldn't
work at a Denny's. No. Because I was chasing
tips. OK. Yeah. I was like, screw this. I'm done
with this. It was that and a mixture of I do
not tolerate being called tardy. Okay, like the
company handbook weird little yeah detention
worthy Rules like and I still can't to this day,
you know, I can't handle it and It's I've always
told everybody even at that point in my life
I was telling people like if you're gonna call
me tardy like I don't want to work here But if
you can understand that like I'm gonna be a little
this or that in the mornings, but I'm gonna show
up I'm going to work harder than everybody and
I'll still work later than everybody until the
job is done. We're going to get along really
well. Working at a corporate, that was my first
corporate experience. I made about a year and
a half and I was like, okay, I'm out. I can't
do this. I had served tables and stuff when I
was in high school. It's such easy money to just
relate to people really quickly and have a great
conversation and give them an amazing opportunity
to have a good night. That is something I enjoy
interacting with people on. So I went to Denny's
and I served coffee until the middle of the night,
especially the coffee kids back then. God, the
coffee kids were the greatest. They'd come and
drink. three kids drink three pots of coffee
and just sit there and jitter at each other like
the vibrations of the place like that were just
incredible. So I left there and did that but
you know I was going through my marriage and
stuff and ended up out in Phoenix where I got
really heavily into the automotive industry and
I will start paraphrasing a little bit but I
got deep into like automotive performance and
body work and And then I actually helped a really
now dear friend, like, start a company called
Tuning Group. It's in Mesa, Arizona. Actually,
I think we discussed it just last year. You know,
I was like the third employee, you know, like
it was his dad's like roofing company that he
had grown out of. And it was like, will you clean
that shop out? You can take it over and start
your little company. And so we started hauling,
they hauled out all this shingles and tar and
all this stuff. It's a one bay shop, but it was
deep enough to possibly fit two cars and then
a little front office. And him and this other
guy, JD, they hauled all this stuff out and then
we got there and we started installing lifts.
you know and got them working and then like i
was the office guy at the time yeah and i was
bringing in the brains uh but uh you know i set
them up i set it up with you know some of the
things i picked up from these other corporate
places like you know like quickbooks and you
know the stuff that i do understand pretty well
and i yeah um i set it up and i created their
own they're like you know like i pretty much
my deal was like i make like $400 a week salary,
but I want 20 % of all of the profit that we
move off of parts. Your labor is your labor,
you know what I mean? So it's like if, you know,
we were just working on cars. and it worked really
well. It worked incredibly well. They put all
that work into the shop and then I gutted that
freaking shop and I tiled it. I've never tiled
in my life at this point. I'm like, I'm tiling
this thing. I built my own little office and
we all just sat in this little tiny shop that
was like $600 a month rent. Who cares? we can
go work at 7 -Eleven a couple hours a day each
down the road and pick up the rent and still
be able to chill. So we did it. I mean, it turned
out pretty incredible. You know, like the Volkswagen
community out there, we were a specialty shop
and it just turned into this, like I live, like
it was like living in the fast and the furious,
you know what I mean? Like by five o 'clock,
there's like, you know, seven. cars, 10 cars,
15 cars, 20 cars, it grew, you know what I mean?
These little car meets would just happen right
outside the shop and it got bad. You start showing
up at four and you're not getting your jobs done,
but it was awesome. He felt like this little
local celebrity. And then after that, there was
another company. We'd grown to a point where...
We were like right there, you know what I mean?
And I had come in and at that moment I felt like
I had provided everything I could. Because I
was just making it up as I went. We were doing
well, but I knew my system was fine, but the
percentages I was taking maybe in that moment,
they weren't there. This other guy that used
to be my client from another place was opening
up this other business and he's all like, do
you want to jump in on this? And I'm like, Guys,
I think this is the best move for all of us.
Yeah. And I jumped over that and that was like
a whole different world. That was a company called
BSH where we were manufacturing performance parts
for... Audi's, Volkswagen's, and I mean, my sales
skills were the only thing brought to the table.
Like, you know, everything else was like, we're
making this up again. I mean, I knew a thing
or two about performance parts from the job I
had before this company, which was another manufacturer
of performance parts called Evolution Motorsports.
So I mean, I know the performance industry decently.
But when it came to welding and fabrication and
actual product design, I was like, yeah, sure,
I've seen enough of it. I can figure it out.
But I know how to use QuickBooks. Yeah, there
you go. Got that going for you. I can get your
in -placing on point. And I'm really good at
the bones. Yeah, but it was crazy. The standard
performance parts that were, you know, amongst
that market in the industry. Sure. Were always
there. Intakes, exhausts, you know, short shifters,
front -end air coolers, you know, turbo upgrades.
But in the Volkswagen industry, there's a product
called the catch can, which separates the oil
from the crankcase. Ventilation system to keep
oil -filled air recirculating back into the top
of your pistons blah blah. Yeah It's it's it's
more of a race car performance part, but they're
it these recirculation cans have their place
all over the industry Well, they really haven't
been involved in the like the the aftermarket
industry for voltwagons at this point But you
know your other cars that were upgrading and
perform, you know in performance levels had them
well This guy that started this up he's like
we're gonna sell catch cans to the Volkswagen
kids and I'm like what is what's a catch can?
And he taught me and I'm like that sounds like
a cool part I believe in that Well I have a facade
GTI But we sold a million dollars in catch cans
Thanks in our first year of business. You did.
Wow. Three man true in a manufacturing partner.
That sold a million dollars in catch cans, not
to mention we were making intakes in other things
and you know, it was just like, you know like.
And that manufacturing partner was not making
us rich by any means. We used to own a lot of
shit and we had a lot of fun and we conquered
a lot of ground, but the business was not sounding
that deal. You know, I made okay money. You know,
it was good, but it was a wonderful learning
experience. And I had that other Evolution Motorsports
company, I had did a similar thing for them.
And in that, my crowning achievement was I had
built a dealer network from like probably 40,
50 out to about 300 worldwide. Oh, that's significant.
Yeah. Wow. It was a fun time. They're just to
find people who want to sell our parts anywhere.
Yeah. And I just kept talking to people on the
phone and developed this, you know, this trail.
I mean, I don't have to freaking... My favorite
one. Oh man, what's that place with that giant
tower? It's an Asian company or country. They
have like a giant space needle. Guys, you gotta
know. Do they? Yeah. There's an Asian country
that has a giant space needle. The second -tallest
building in the country. We're going to cut this.
We're going to edit that, I'm sure, until I remember
their name. But it was just cool, man. Actually,
music, punk music. One of my favorite things
in that whole industry, the drummer from Pepper.
He called me. He calls in I'm at evolution motorsports.
I'm selling Volkswagen parts. Okay, call their
intakes and just basic stuff. Yeah And I get
this phone call and it's from Hawaii and we're
just talking and he's ordering his parts He's
got a Volkswagen r32 which is like a pretty special
edition kind of thing. Okay kids but We're going
through and we're talking about his car and just
bullshitting and somehow it comes up that he's
in a band You know, he's probably boasting on
himself But uh Eddie he's like, oh yeah, really
what kind of band he's like, oh, you know, he's
like he literally says It's like, you know, it's
a little Scott's little surfer. It's a little
punk and I'm like, oh like sublime and he's Yeah.
Like, sublime. And I'm like, oh cool, what's
the name of your band? And he's like, it's Pepper.
And I'm like, never heard of you. I was like,
but I'll check it out. I had no idea. Like, this
is like in the prime, you know, when they came
up with the Dirty Hot Sex song. Like, they were,
that was like their big fucking shit. Like, and
turns out they're actually one of my favorite
goddamn bands. But yeah, I helped that guy for
over like a year, like. build his car, and just
talk back and forth with him. That's amazing.
That's fun, right? Yeah. I get to meet some cool
people in that industry. So you're out there,
you're doing all this. At what point do you go
from Arizona back then to Indiana? Oh, this is
the kind of shit I don't want to talk about.
You're on the Mark Mo Show, baby, bring it. Oh
man, how deep are we going on that? As deep as
you want. Yeah, so... I moved out there with
my wife. And we had a baby. And everything was
great. But we, you know, like we moved out to
Phoenix by ourselves. We didn't have any family.
And all of our friends, you know, were degenerates
like us. And we weren't gonna let them watch
our son. So, you know, I went four years. Pretty
much and and me and my ex -wife are very Professionally
driven so she had her career and I had Mike and
we were zooming on that and we were fine with
that but when it came to four years of like She
worked day shift. I work in the arts. I work
day shift where she worked night shift, you know,
we raised our son from birth at that point, you
know what I mean, like I would go home at five
and and she would leave for work and I took care
of my son from the point he was like seven weeks
old, you know, whatever, you know, a month old,
three months old, whatever. She's, you know,
after she had them bare minimums, she had, she
went back to work, you know, and we just switched
off and four years of that, we kind of went through
each other like we haven't been on a date. We
have no family structure. My family structure
is unreal. Yeah, you know like that's a whole
other story. This is what I told you we could
be sitting here You know, like I was adopted
by a freaking saint who has like, you know our
family Christmas party to this day is still 60
some people I love it, you know, and it's deep
and it just keeps running and it doesn't stop
growing in there They're all there for each other.
You know what I mean? And like I went from like
shit Yeah, actually went from awesome. Yeah to
like a death and a family change the whole time
course of history for that whole family and then
a shit but turning the massive shit and I was
rescued from that and brought to India and like
I Felt like my family was heading in that direction.
Yeah, the only thing I could do is be you were
moving back But Valpo is as close to the middle
of nowhere as I'm willing to live. Yeah, I hear
you That's how we ended up here. So you come
back to Valpo. At what point does definitive
details come in? I mean when you come back, is
that like your first thing? You're like, I'm
gonna start my own thing or not quite yet? No,
so I was in the performance industry and I'm
gonna give a shout out and a big you to the this
company because i love them and i like a lot
of love a lot of people there and it's i nothing
to respect but you didn't hire me you're dumb
uh precision turbo okay so i'm in the performance
industry and uh this guy named justin this is
a kind of fun story yeah this guy named justin
that works at precision turbo is the guy that
sells me turbos for when i'm at bs age And we're
developing this fun relationship, you know, over
the phone, bye -bye shit, yada, yada, yada, back
and forth. You know, we just kind of get to know
each other. He's from Valpo, holly crap, you
know, like, you know, I'm from Valpo or from
North Judson. You know, we just kind of vibed.
And so, like, when I told him I was deciding
to move back, he's like, dude, you need to come
work here. And he got me the interview and I'm
getting fed when you're like, you got this, you're
his guy and even the guy says I'm his guy and
I'm like, I'm moving back. And it was like this
kind of weird interaction of like, I'm moving,
you told me this is good, I'm really kind of
a little nervous, I just want a confirmation
like the contract. And I did have that direct
conversation with the guy and somehow I spooked
him. Cause then like moving day comes, I didn't
hear from him. I'm driving back, I'm driving
back. Me, my ex -wife, my son, a bulldog and
a cat in a Nissan Murano that's way over packed.
We shipped everything back in a pod and we just
packed that thing to what we needed and we were
driving straight through. And like I still hadn't
gotten it. I spent that 27 hour drive. Oh, yeah,
just like she went on this like where's this
guy? Why is he calling me kind of scenario and
He you know, whatever it is that I said he got
nervous about it and he was not gonna choose
me and so in that midst of driving back here
I I just started calling everybody in the world
that I knew to be like, I cannot land in Indiana
without a job. I'm not that man. I will not be
unemployed. And so I ended up, I took an oil
change technician position at McGill Ford for
$9 an hour because I needed something. You had
to work, man. I do not do nothing. Right. So
I took it and I did the interview and I got the
job and they actually called me. Like, well,
in the midst of this is a long 27 -hour drive.
And they called me back, literally. I lost a
job, got a job, negotiated to a better job. They
reviewed my resume that my wife emailed to them
in the midst of this drive. They seen that I
had all the body shop experience, and they offered
me the assistant manager position in the body
shop. Oh, nice. And I came back to something
that was actually kind of comforting and something
that I'd always aspired to think that I was going
to be really, really prominent in. Yeah. So I
did that. And again, it really went from $9 an
hour to $10 an hour. There you go. Climb in the
ladder. In the blink of an eye. For sure. But,
you know, like I actually at one point had worked
up to making like out and all that stuff. I did
do pretty well out there in the very beginning,
especially with the Evo company. But I was making
some double figure stuff out there in sales and
it was really, really nice. And then chasing
those small businesses, it wasn't like that,
but that was way more rewarding. I did learn
that. Evo was awesome. Corporate though. They
were big sure, you know that that company would
swing pretty hard I I actually had a really cool
office and when I was like 23 years old where
There was a Carrera GT just literally sitting
outside my office. No way. Yeah, this company
was nuts, dude They they had a it was a roller
skating rink Okay that had went out of business
that they bought and then like segmented it and
it was like The first third of it was just this
gnarly showroom with a wall of wheels that are
$2 ,000, $3 ,000 a piece back in 2005, which
those wheels are ridiculous now. But it was just
decadence. It was pretty cool. And that place,
I made a lot of it. That was fun. I shouldn't
have made that much money when I was young. I
did nothing but blow it. We've all done that.
I think we've all been there, for sure. So now,
definitive details. Yeah. Let's get to it. All
right. Damn it. So actually, Beryl Ford, working
my way through, you know, they were stakeholders,
man. Like, that was old school. old men, like,
this is what we make, you know what I mean? Like,
and, you know, like I was, I knew different,
but it's like, I also was raised in that element.
So I just. grin and bared it, but I was like,
I need to make more money. So like, I negotiated
with my managers and I was like, can I please
start coming in at 5 a .m. and I, you know, I'll
sand and buff and do the body work on the bumper
so you can get an extra two bumper jobs out a
week. And, you know, I built my own, my own body
shop, my own workstation within these body men,
also being their assistant manager. Wow, okay.
And I would come in and work a couple hours before
them and a couple hours after them. I like saying
I made $60 ,000 in one year with a $10 an hour
pay. That's something. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It was
a lot and I worked a lot a lot and it was actually
there where Oddly enough because I was not allowed
to be in the body shop between the hours of eight
and five That was my other job. I could not touch
my other project. So those little projects they
allowed me to have And I work as early as I want
or as late as I want but I had to be there but
I got so like I Created this system that really
ran that that office so efficiently that I was
allowed I you know in a couple hours a day where
I would just twiddle my thumbs and that turned
into like researching stuff online and like really
getting into the research of finishing work and
buffing and polishing and and towards the end
of all that I negotiated like hey we don't even
offer this surface here like These people keep
coming in and they keep saying well We just painted
my fender because it got damaged But the rest
of my car looks like crap because I don't take
care of it But shouldn't the insurance company
pay for that and we'd have to be like no Which
is the last thing you ever want to tell a client?
That's picking up something that they need to
fall in love with right so I would be like no,
but Know a guy that could actually go through
and make the rest of it look really damn close
or bring it really close And I'd be like I'll
do it for 200 bucks And I would take these cars
home to my garage yeah with the permission of
the management at Perel Ford And I would then
just pour myself into these cars and like I was
just trying to see what I could do at the time,
but I would spend from like Friday night till
like two in the morning and then I'd go to sleep
and I'd get up at like nine and then I'd be working
by ten, but then I'd work until like two, three
o 'clock in the morning again. And then I would,
you know what I mean, I had family time and different
things in between there, but. Would put probably
30 hours into like just seeing what the hell
I could do with the buffer because I mean hell
I was working 40 hours for almost the same amount
of money Yeah at the time, you know, so I was
like screw it I'm making I'm doubling my income
and I am really just intrigued with this and
I like I said before I'd always been into the
finishing stuff I did skip a whole entire job,
by the way, from Phoenix. You're welcome. There's
a lot of stories there, too. We can always do
a part two. Right? Part two. Yeah. The pre -mix
saga. But I would, you know, I'd take them home
and like, the feeling that I got from the Volkswagen.
This was the next time I experienced that because
I would I would be like they were done at the
body shop They were now my client. Okay, and
so they were picking these cars up at my house
And these people would show up and like I literally
made this woman cry She showed up and seen the
work that I had done to her car and she just
lost it Like in my driveway in just tears of
happiness and it's like that pride like I became
addicted to that. I truly became addicted to
that. I love providing that service for my client.
And I will promise you that everybody that has
ever worked for me knows that's where this started.
became just enthralled with the the reaction
of the people from the work that I did and The
part that really is the selfish part of it though
is like buffing for me. Uh -huh. It's it's almost
like Hypnotic it really is like when I get to
do when I get to do it and I don't get to do
it very often The machine and the rotation and
just following it and just staring deep into
the surface of the paint while you're watching
it erode away this thing at this this pace my
mind expand I start just Dreaming up the funnest
next step Yeah, we're gonna do and it is I fuck
fall in love with everything around me in those
moments. It's crazy the feeling I get. And the
people that get to experience that with me don't
know what to do with themselves. They really
don't. Where were we? I felt that moment. Sorry.
We're talking about definitive years. I was about
to talk with you about your passion for your
job. And I love that for you. makes me so happy,
seriously. As a person, as a friend, as someone
who's known you your entire life, that makes
me so happy. Thank you. It comes through. It
comes through in everything, your stories that
you're telling here. And so you open your shop,
which is here in Valparaiso, Indiana, off of
Northland Drive. And you opened your shop. Now,
from doing these jobs out of your own garage
and now being there off a route there, what was
one of your biggest challenges opening your business?
Opening it? Mm -hmm. Just starting right out
of the gate. I don't feel like there were too
many challenges in the beginning. Mm -hmm. I
had already started a couple of companies with
buddies and known the comfort. Okay. And I am
a very throw my heart into it because it's going
to get me there. I throw the sails up and I just
go. Yeah. It wasn't really until actually just
recently, you know, 12 years in the business
that I would say that like it has become a true
struggle. And there's much even like that was
like a struggle. You know, it's actually since
we've expanded to the point of like being more
than just a passionate person providing a service.
Yeah. You know, now we're a company in the community
and there is a different level of expectation
that is different against my rebellious side.
It goes against my rebellious side and what I
want to offer And that's where almost any and
all my like true struggles have started before
that. Honestly, I just my sales are big and wide
Yeah, they freaking soared You know, I went from
job to job job and client client client and employee
and it was it's just been this just journey of
like happiness and love and achievement and pride
and You've done a great job. Thanks. Put that
in there. My journey with this has been almost
easy. As crazy as that sounds. I can't think
of much negative. Can chew on and I hope I hope
I look back on the time that I'm having right
now in the same manner Yeah, I know don't trust
me. Actually. I know I'm more calm right now
Yeah, yeah, I'm more calm about the the stuff
that I'm going through and the negative than
I ever was back then I've definitely learned
that in in business Nothing happens as fast as
you think it is. It's usually double Yeah before
it actually comes information your little ideas
and your dreams and goals when you're constantly
thinking negatively about your business, it won't
succeed. That's a whole thing that we can have
in part two about vibrational. I know all about
that. We'll discuss that for hours. I've had
negative thoughts about my business, clearly,
but out of the 23 years of what I've been doing
and what you've been doing, we're both really
successful in what we do. We know good people
and we've been doing good things for the community
and everybody else so Now when I went online
Did my research as I should as a good host? Looking
at all the surfaces that you provide right so
interior detailing exterior detailing paint corrections
ceramic coating now That was something I found
interesting because I saw that you're a ceramic
pro elite dealer. As someone who... I grew up
in a house where my dad did body work, so I often
appreciated a lot of the work and what you do.
But this was something new to me, or this terminology
was new, so what does that mean exactly? So,
elite dealer was a status in... it was a status
improvement that was provided and or acknowledged
towards dealers around the world from Ceramic
Pro. A couple years back, there's roughly about
3 ,000 Ceramic Pro dealers worldwide and we were
in the top 200, definitely towards the top. of
that 200 as in not the best. But the top 200,
I was very, very proud of that to be inducted
into the Elite Dealer Service, which they flew
me out to San Diego and they put me through this
three day seminar and training and then offered
like, We got the first year of this new product
called Saran Pro Ion to offer it before the regular
dealer's connection and purchase it and stuff
like that. It was just the next step forward.
It was, in a sense, an induction process to stepping
to the next level. And it's based off of performance
and purchasing, obviously. Which again, that's
pretty amazing. You know like this small town
in Indiana like we have 3 ,000 dealers of the
largest ceramic coating provider in America We
were in the top 200. I thought that was pretty
cool. That's amazing. That's really cool Can
you think of a job or a couple of jobs? That
you were just so proud of or maybe a car that
you worked on that was just awesome Going into
them last week. Well, yeah. So I am a jack of
all trades in the buffing, polishing, and ceramic
coating, and the detailing aspect actually spread
into just growth in the company, which I took
on tint, and then also taking on wrapping cars.
The whole wrapping cars thing just really leads
back to my passions of painting cars, which I'm
actually... The biggest thing that I left out
earlier is like, I started to become allergic
to being in a body shop. So as I was buffing
these cars on the side and doing that more and
more, I actually, I was up to like 260 pounds,
like super unhealthy, like headaches all the
time, just terrible. Going to the doctor every
like month or two, like trying to figure this
out. And turns out I have this isocyanate allergy,
which like when you're surrounded by the solvents
that are in a body shop and the aluminum oxide
and stuff like that like it really just it messes
up your system. I had in the start of my company
leaving there that's when we kind of discovered
this but being away from the body shop I ended
up like very quickly like I dropped like it was
I dropped a hundred pounds in six months. Oh
I went down to 160 but it wasn't like a scrum
it was like a I'm a kid again. Oh yeah, it was
a very fun time in my life, running circles around,
you know, 20 -something year olds when I was,
you know, 10, 15 years younger, older than them,
just laying it on the world. I forget where they
were. No, that's okay. No, I was just talking
about like some jobs or some cars you really
love to work on. So, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, the
favorite is cars. The reason I got into that
was because like, I mean, that's such a loaded
question for me. Like we can talk about, you
know, like I could probably name off 10 cars,
you know, in the buffing polishing realm, you
know, for different reasons. The funny thing
I've learned actually is a lot of these projects,
I have my own personal, I guess, but like...
Most of my favorites revolve around the moments
and the fun, amazing times that I had with the
people that I'm doing these projects with and
that car. You know, like me and Justin Ewing,
the guy that, my buddy that was like, hey man,
I just rented a shop. You want to go buff cars
and drink a couple beers after work? And we'd
go there and like, we limited ourselves to four
beers and five hours were the time maximum that
we were going to be there. You know what I mean?
we would buff X amount of X amount of car and
that's how we started literally we started as
a company after it left my garage yeah to you
know like the the best decon we ever got out
of a wash bay was after John who's my tenor now
been with the company on and off for 10 years
yeah He you know like green green thumb The green
sorry green thumb like sorry Anyways, you know
not training the guy like it was just this you
know you're here verbally you said you're verbally
explaining it you're Demonstrating it and like
just how to go through the steps of deconing
a car. Yeah, finally. I'm just like You're not
allowed to come back to work until you come back
with a list in order the decon process and how
to do it yeah and he went home and he typed it
out he brought it in the next day and that's
son of a bitch like he the i watched this kid
like just make the shiniest car wash ever happen
ever you know what i mean right in front of my
eyes you know like that moment was fan freaking
fantastic um I'm going to tell one that shouldn't
be listed on the air. But one of my best clients
ever, one of my biggest clients ever, he owns
Sheck Industries, which is a multi -million dollar
corporation. I've done a few things for him.
He gives me his own personal wrangler to do.
My company is shit in the fucking bed because
they can't get nothing done and we fall way behind.
And this is when I very, very, very first started
smoking weed again as an adult. Tell him the
story. He can cut it, but I want to hear it.
It was Blue Dream. Yeah. Blue Dream. And I was
at work on a Saturday by myself. It's a Wrangler,
which Wranglers need to come with an asshole
tax. Because it's so hard to buff, because everything
is buff. Oh yeah. You're just, you have this
buffing a hundred million tiny little spots.
It sucks. They're worse than everything. And
he is the... It has to be flawless. You can't
mess it up. I'm not gonna mess it. Stress, stress,
stress, stress, stress. Smoke a joint of Blue
Dream and I never smoke when I work and I still
don't. I really don't smoke when I'm working.
But I was at the shop, stressed the hell out.
I smoked this joint and I swear to God, two and
a half hours go by and that car is... done pristine
done yeah done done done done done and i'm standing
there staring i'm like calling people like dude
i just finished a wrangler in two and a half
hours i mean we're talking there isn't a freaking
hairline scratch on the whole car period decon
and i'm like i don't even know how i got here
you need to come down like i'm calling my buddy
adjust i'm like look at this thing shag's gonna
lose his mind dude that that that job led to
thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars
for the projects yeah And I somehow just that
crap out like out of passion and like two hours
like that stuff would take me 10 hours, you know
Sure, but you know, that's one of my favorite
stories. I love that But I'm sorry, yeah, I got
I got like a trove of all these these Employees
that have touched my heart over the years that
I got to do these things with you know, yeah
But really recently, I just did a 2020 C63S AMG.
The client came in and he pretty much started
pitching my one of my dream. appearances that
you would wrap a car with or paint a car with
and it was like it's all gloss up over the top
and all all satin on the on the base of the car
and then all the trim pieces are gloss black
and yeah you know and then a few little tasteful
carbon fiber pieces and I'm like you mean like
this and I'm like exactly and I'm like this is
gonna be my favorite job ever took me seven weeks
to do this job it was a total nightmare I ordered
the material, or I actually had the material
in stock that I sold them. I got three quarters
of the way through the car. I made a bad cut.
Ordered more material. More material shows up.
Different looking material. I call in, they're
like, oh yeah, we don't make that material anymore.
So I had to tear all that off, get the new material,
start over. Nightmare. Just nightmare. Turned
into like, I lost a plotter within that time.
So when the material showed up, found out that
a mouse had ate the internals on my plotter,
which is a $7 ,000 machine. That thing kicks
the bed. I have to then order a plotter, which
takes a week, then car sits a week, material
sitting a week, customers getting pissed, you
know. We were in all it's spring, you know, we're
just coming off a winner We've got a you know,
really keep our production up hour after hour,
you know, we're a small company We're we're such
a small company and like we we sacrifice everything
in the winter to maintain our employees So that
we can get through spring. Yeah, it's how we
do it and there's a lot of companies like that
out there that have to do that and You have to
maintain you can't you can't stop doing other
jobs that are scheduled so that you can get this
done, right? I worked for in a two -week span
There were four different days that I worked
32 hour shifts Really I had to go in I had to
start working on that car Yeah, six o 'clock
at night after everybody else was done with their
jobs in the shop so that I can get that project
done And that was within the last month. And
that was within the last month, wow. That was
within the last month. Do you find most of your
customers come from northwest Indiana? Or do
you find that they come from outside the region?
Most are definitely within the region, 100%.
But I've got some really fun clients that have...
Come from the middle like upper echelons of Michigan
because they saw our website or like downtown,
Chicago There's a guy named Sunil Mara That lives
on Lakeshore Drive. That was one of my very early
adopter clients and he owns a couple like steak
houses and an orthodontist office in Chicago
but then he also like has some crazy stuff going
on the UK and he's got like a crazy villa full
of all these like amazing like he owns like a
Golf like Porsche race car like a legitimate.
Yeah real golf race car In his collection kind
of thing, you know, that's when I was early on
He's one of my first clients where he he hit
he had had all his cars ceramic coated in the
UK By the g -technique dealer and he started
asking them like well, I mentioned, you know,
my cars in Chicago How do I get them done and
some dude in the UK? had seen my stuff on the
internet and told this guy that lives in downtown
Chicago that I look like I know what I'm doing
and that guy's been a client of mine for 10 years
now. How cool is that? And you know he brings
like he actually he actually bought his wife
a Porsche Cayenne for her birthday and I was
the first ever detailer allowed to go into Porsche
Exchange to actually do my work on their car
in their shop because he had that much pull with
those people. And I went up there and I buffed
and I polished and I ceramic coated that car
in front of all their technicians at the Porsche
Exchange in Chicago because that guy needed me
to do it so that they can wrap a bow on it before
it got any miles on it. Wow, that's awesome.
Yeah, you know that was just from some weird
-ass referral from the UK That's that guy that's
been calling the shop. He's actually got a BMW
wants me to do again recently you're coming up
Yeah I do have to give a shout out actually as
far as that stuff Abbott farms they have Lou
Abbott was the dad Glenn and Jerry are the brothers
or the sons But they were like, Glenn was literally
my first client. As a real client. And I had
done a couple car washes for Lou. And Lou has
a collection of T -Birds that he left to his
sons when he passed. And after he passed, Glenn
came to me and asked me to start working on them
for him. And the crowning jewel was the 50. the
56 um and it was the first like real like i you
know i always said to people i want to i want
a detail shop that doesn't do anything for less
than 650 and people like that doesn't exist you're
crazy now i do like three thousand dollar you
know projects um but that was my first thousand
dollar job and man i worked on that thing for
like a month I went over every nut and bull.
I was scrubbing that thing with toothbrushes
and polishing nuts and screws and pulling screws
out of the dash. I mean, it was a 56. There were
so many little intricate art deco shit, dude.
It's so amazing. And I polished that thing for
days and days and days and days and days and
days and days and days. And he showed up and
just, you know, like since then. Dude, that man,
he does amazing work with me every winter, and
he comes and supports my company, and he tells
so many people about us. I've done so much of
their collection, and they keep coming back and
trusting me. That 56T bird was something else,
too. I don't know that I've ever done a more
complete, intricate detail in my life. Was that
car? Yeah, that was on my website and his brother's
is the next one. There's an orange 75 It's a
74 Corvette, but it's a resto mod I don't know
what he has in it. I don't know if he's gonna
be mad at you saying this but I bet you there's
$300 ,000 in this freaking amazing piece of work.
It's a full tube chassis like where he set a
74 body on it and then like the whole interior
i mean we're talking italian leather like custom
hand built dash like the suspension alone on
this thing i mean it's just such a beautiful
build um and It actually was it was actually
all the bodywork and paint was done down at Z
rods and in Knox And I mean you these these that's
a guy I went to high school with Zach Ingram
dude. That guy's created a Amazing corporation
out there, right? But like I'm telling you right
now the the lines on that 75 are crisper than
this piece of glass like it's ridiculous like
It's such a beautiful piece, and I've actually
got to do that twice now. Once when it was first
done, and then he took it to Xerox and got redone
and totally re -established, and you can run
it back just this last year. That's been an amazing
piece to have in my life, too. I keep going,
dude. That's amazing, and that's why I'm so glad
we finally got together, because I know that
you are very passionate about your business and
about cars, and it's... It's so interesting to
hear you talk about it. As I said, I grew up
in a family where my dad was a body guy, so I
love being able to sit here and talk to you about
this. And we're going to do this again. There
will be a part two, maybe a part three. I hope
everybody enjoys it. I mean, we still have music
to talk about. We still have like, top shelf
liquor, all these things that when Justin and
I would... But Justin, we can do whatever we
want. It is my show. We can do whatever the hell
we want. But as we kind of close out what I will
call part one of this journey with Justin Anderson,
give, I guess, any final props to your business.
Of course, how people can get in touch with you,
where they can see your work online, social media,
all that kind of good stuff. And then, of course,
any shout outs they want to give here. Oh, man.
You ever hear the end of the sublime album where
he's just like We're gonna do this put on some
rivers of Babylon So Yeah, we're you know, we're
actually right on the corner 38 highway to in
between Jiffy Lube and USA muffler. What up?
What up? Right actually everybody knows this
right by parlor doughnuts, I mean, let's face
it. Let's say parlor doughnuts. They're like
got you got you we know you're at Yeah, the phone
number is 219 -309 -7089 I think We're sometimes
open from seven to five, but mostly from nine
to five. Yeah Understand yeah, it says maybe
I don't know definitive details. I don't know
like Google Yeah, Facebook. We got some Instagram.
We kind of suck at both about like things. Oh,
I got shout outs I got shout outs for days. I
mean it's all the way back to Burel I got Grieger's.
We'd skip so much, man. We'd skip so much. I
used to grind through nasty cars for $100 for
10 years. But anyways, I'm going to give a big
shout out to my main girl Alicia right here from
Revolution. Revolution Valbrezo 2 .0. And we'll
be speaking with Alicia soon as well. Yeah, so
she's actually one of my oldest friends. We've
been kicking it since we were 14. She's another
business owner here in Valparaiso. Man, this
got me in trouble in the magazine article when
I didn't write anything. I didn't say nothing
about greeters, and they were like... Now I'm
like, you know, fuck this guy. You know what?
I'll give him the mic, unless you laugh. Do you
want me to do it? How about any of your crew?
Oh, dude. All of them. I honestly, good or bad.
Good or bad, this ain't here without Brett, John,
Turner West. Oh, Turner. Oh, Turner West. I love
Turner. You're such a good boy. Serato. Throwing
one out to Serato. Oh my god, did I say Justin
Ewing like six times yet? Maybe not, yeah, it's
over under. God damn that man, he's amazing.
Scott Yost out in Pennsylvania. I mean, fucking
Kate. Jesus fucking Christ, Kate. Oh, of course,
Kate. We're gonna talk about Kate. Oh my god.
Me too. Yeah, dude, I'm so proud of her. I love
her. She's starting her own company. Alright,
wow. She is, yeah. My main apprentice, she's
starting her own company and I can't be more
supportive. She's gonna take a big chunk of business
away from me and I can't wait to see it. She's
gonna take a passion piece. There it is. Yeah,
all that ultra high end stuff, I pour this into
her, she knows that stuff. She's gonna kill it.
Her company's gonna be named Details by Garla.
Really? No way. We're rolling out them DDs. I
love it. I love it. Gabe and Angelica. Yeah.
They deserve an honor. Jared. You know who you
are. Yeah. Joe. Johnny. Fucking Johnny. Johnny's
been there 10 years, man. 10 years, yeah. He's
a good man. He taught me a lot. Maybe your better
half, perhaps. This one? Yeah, this one over
here. This one over here. She's brand new. She's
coming in. She just started. Yeah, Amanda. Amanda's
actually who you're going to talk to if you call
in now. She's the new front runner. Yep. Good
job. You're doing great, Jess. Say hi. Yeah?
I know. I've been looking for somebody. I need
somebody I can trust in that spot. It's my favorite
spot. You're getting it. 20 years of customer
service. That's awesome. Might as well. Casey.
Everybody at the shop. Everybody. I know she
has. Yeah, of course, everybody has to shop.
We're still in the nostalgic stages. We're still
reminiscing. I've been through like 50 of these
sumbitches. There's Kyle. Kyle was the stick.
Kyle broke the first employee to break my heart,
man. Kyle? Yeah, man. He got all Bernie Sanders
on me and left and made me so sad. Turn the internet
against me. Because I was 10 .99ing him. To save
him money and taxes. Wow. I know, right? It's
terrible. How you like me now, Kyle? Who punched
some fucking drywall somewhere else, Kyle? I
don't know. Jesus, how many of them are there?
There's so many! You know how many employees
I don't know their names anymore? Ever? Yeah.
I've been there. I've had employees that I probably
paid at least 100 hours to poop. A lot of thinking
in the bathroom. Yeah, if I've had those moments.
We're going to say the same thing. They do say
that in a normal 365 days of working. You get
paid about 12 days for pooping. For pooping,
yeah. It's a terrible time job. But I typically
like to poop before I work because I'm at work
and I cannot poop while I'm working. Let's not
turn this into a conversation. Baby, I'm a big
little whale. Turner taught me what a weight
blanket is. That's the kind of kid that guy is.
I love that guy. Oh, Turner. Well Justin, this
has been awesome dude. I appreciate it. We've
waiting a long time to do this and I know we
got a lot to cover still and I'm looking forward
to it brother. I appreciate coming on. Defendive
details, check them out here in Valparaiso, Indiana
and have Justin and the crew trick out your ride.
And don't forget the last Wednesday of every
month until October car show. Kermit. It's not
a show. We don't judge anybody. Kermit. Awesome.
Well, thank you. And this has been great. We've
had Justin, Amanda, Alicia. It's been a blast.
And we'll do this again. Thanks a lot, man. Thank
you. Sounds groovy. Until next time. Until next
time.